Hernando County cracks down on tax fraud | News

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Hernando County, Florida -- A join investigation between Hernando County Sheriff's Office and the Tampa Area Alliance Financial Crimes Task Force was conducted to look into the filing of fraudulent tax returns.

Detectives found out that LBS Tax Services in Brooksville and Spring Hill were conducting fraudulent activity pertaining to the filing of tax returns.

The alliance includes federal, state, Sheriff's and local task force representatives. As a result of their cooperative investigation, two search warrants, one for each company, were executed in Hernando County yesterday, February 25.

On scene were authorities from the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, Brooksville Police Department, Internal Revenue Service, and the Secret Service.

Detectives are asking that anyone who filed a tax return with LBS Tax Services and was given a refund amount, and then was "advised" how to increase that amount using "questionable" income and/or expenses is requested to call Detective Bill Horvath in Economic Crimes immediately. Detective Horvath can be reached at 352-797-3732 or whorvath@hernandosheriff.org.

Sheriff Al Nienhuis says that while these crimes are not violent, they can be very frustrating and costly.

"Victims can spend years trying to straighten out a stolen identity issue and the money stolen from the government costs us all millions of dollars in the long run. "

Nienhuis adds that the Sheriff's Office is excited to be working with the federal government to take a stance against tax fraud. He wants tax fraud suspects to stop using small counties like Hernando as a safe haven for tax fraud.

Anyone with information on someone- an individual or a business- that is filing taxes fraudulently is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at: